But for dairy farmer Craig Dwyer, who farms just outside of Cobden in south-west Victoria, the opposite can cause just as many issues.
Excessively wet winters can prove an issue when juggling the needs of his herd, but with a break arriving early this year, things are shaping up well.
“We did dry-off a fraction and then had a very, very early break,” Mr Dwyer told Agriculture Victoria's Ag Vic Talk podcast.
“Our down period was probably only about six weeks. I would have said last year, combined with a nominally high milk price, was probably one of the best ones we've ever put together.”
Mr Dwyer said his farm could get very wet, often averaging about 850mm of rain a year.
“It's a management challenge in a wet winter,” he said.
“The winter (we've gone) through right at the moment, up until this point in time has been very, very kind to us.
“Given that June was quite dry and July probably ... I know others have had it, unfortunately too dry for them, but July's been ideal for us.
“The only thing that could have made it better was probably a little more sunshine.”
When it came to managing his property during a wet year, Mr Dwyer said a few things were key.
“We ensure that we've got enough grass cover on the property before we actually open the farm back up to the milking cows.
“We try to have grass cover levels at 2500 kilos of dry matter to the hectare, and then once the majority of the farm is at that point, we'll allow the cows to start grazing.
“Generally, with our calving pattern, we're calving around the 15th of May, so therefore we do sacrifice the cows off into a couple of paddocks to allow that grass cover to get ahead, to give us a feed wedge.
“Then once that wedge is established, we strip graze them around the farm to keep the rotation as long as possible.”
Mr Dwyer said it had taken a lot of effort to get his farm to where it was today.
Although it was a dairy farm from the early 1980s up until 1999, he said it was a very underdeveloped farm with no trough or water infrastructure and minimal laneways.
The property, which was just 22 paddocks and 22 dams according to Mr Dwyer, was a beef farm from the late 1990s until the Dwyers bought it in 2012 and moved onto the property in 2015 after leasing it out for three years.
“We've renovated virtually the whole place back into the more newer varieties of perennial grasses,” he said.
“We've renovated the whole farm over a period of five years, and upped the fertility base too, to support that grass.
“I think we've almost got the place up to the right spec that we need for it to be producing as good as we could possibly get it.”
Although producing their own silage, Mr Dwyer said he would buy in up to 300 tones of cereal or clover hay when needed to ensure they have enough fodder to get through tough seasonal conditions — whether it be an overly wet winter or a dry summer.
After putting in a hayshed in May, Mr Dwyer has gone into the season with a clear plan in mind.
“We'll put in a fodder rape crop into paddocks that have been either badly damaged by pugging, or have the most tired grass species in them, as in the ones that were probably sown five years ago.
“If they've got some ongoing issues, either from cricket damage, or pugging, etc, we'll renovate them, so those decisions have already been made for those paddocks that will probably get pulled out of the rotation.
“Then we'll try and get those fodder crops in early to give us a feed wedge, to keep the cows milking through until hopefully at least February.
“We will get as much fodder on farm as we can, and as our cashflow allows, anyway, and given that this hayshed is now here, and we'll probably try and keep that as full as possible over the journey.
“Probably the next capital expenditure will be on some drainage, so we can avoid damaging some of that pasture that we're putting into the wetter paddocks.”
For more episodes of Ag Vic Talk, visit: agriculture.vic.gov.au/support-and-resources/podcasts/agvic-talk-podcast-series
22°C